What kinds of trinkets of Hamlet Shakespeareana does David Tennant review in the
intro?
He reviews the Hamlet flip book
What is difficult for performers who do Hamlet to overcome?
Removing the emotional baggage from yourself and focusing on telling a story
What is Hamlet about? (summarize)
Story about the Prince of Denmark whose father gets murdered, and then urges the
Prince to avenge his death as a ghost.
At the beginning of the play, with what is Hamlet enduring?
He is grieving his father’s death and is angry that everyone has moved on so
quickly
The premise of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, mimicked the events of his own life in
what way?
Just as the prince’s father died, his own son died and his father was ill.
Would the Elizabethan audience have been surprised at the idea of a ghost? Why or
why not?
No because ghosts were thought to be present everywhere in the world.
What forces are at work as Hamlet plots his revenge?
The king has spies watching Hamlet and his minister has spies watching both Ophelia
and Hamlet
What keeps us “on edge” during the play?
The possibility that conversations are constantly being overheard by someone who
can’t be seen.
What is Hamlet’s most characteristic form of communication? What is a soliloquy?
What is the effect on the audience?
His most characteristic form of communication is a soliloquy. It is when a
character speaks their inner thoughts aloud. His soliloquy and the questions he
asks in it make us question our own motives and thoughts.
What devastating question does Hamlet ask himself in what is perhaps the most
famous speech in the English language?
He questions the point of life and whether it is worth living.
Why is this question “revolutionary” in Shakespeare’s time? Why is the scene
shocking?
It’s revolutionary because he considers suicide, which is immensely traumatic for
that culture. It’s shocking because the person considering suicide is not
controlled by a devil, but is thinking for himself.
What is so intimidating according to Tennant about performing Hamlet’s soliloquies?
It’s like a one-man show because there is nobody else that is interacting with
Hamlet during the soliloquy
What is the “hook” Jude Law clung onto when approaching Hamlet’s “To be or not to
be” soliloquy?
The hook was that Hamlet didn’t know himself the answer to that question.
What do the other actors say about performing the role of Hamlet?
When playing Hamlet, part of you becomes transparent and reveals a private aspect
of yourself.
Tennant says there is not one definitive version of the text. How many sources
(original versions) of the text exist?
3
What are some characteristics of the first version or “bad” quarto? What are some
of the surprising differences between the 1st and the others?
The first is believed to be made from an actor’s memory. The other two are longer
and have stage directions
When Hamlet’s suspicions are realized (Claudius murdering his father), what must
Hamlet do? Is he able to? Why/why not?
He first must decide whether or not to trust the ghost. To do this, he devises a
plan to gauge Cladius’s reaction to a situation similar to his father’s murder.
From there, he can decide whether or not to get revenge.
How does Hamlet feel about his mother? What happens in the chamber scene between
these two characters? Why is it such “taboo” material?
Hamlet feels angry about his mother’s reaction to his father’s death. In the
chamber, he confronts her about her promiscuity, which is very taboo because it is
uncomfortable for the audience to watch a son bash his mother about her sexuality.
Perhaps the most iconic scene in Hamlet is that between the Prince and the skull or
his once-court-jester, Yorick. Though often in danger of becoming a cliche, what
remains powerful in the scene?
The actors used a real human skull during this scene, giving it more impact because
they are literally holding what used to contain one’s thoughts and dreams.
Once Hamlet kills Polonius, how does the revenge aspect of the play change? Who
now also seeks revenge? Who has orchestrated these events, and to what end?
Laertes now wants to seek revenge for his father’s death. The king has orchestrated
the contest in order to get rid of Hamlet.